Mental Root Kit

Speculative Philosophy of X

  • Truth-Seeking as a Journey:

    Why Intelligent Systems Drift and How to Guard Against False Information William Cook ⸻ Abstract Truth-seeking is widely claimed as a guiding principle by individuals, institutions, and increasingly artificial intelligence systems. Yet history demonstrates that error and self-deception persist even among highly intelligent, well-informed, and well-intentioned actors. This paper argues that failures of truth-seeking arise…

  • The Conservation of Moments:

    Time, Constraint, and the Generation of Meaning William Cook Independent Researcher MentalRootKit.net ⸻ Abstract This paper proposes a conceptual framework arguing that moments in time are not discrete, editable units but highly constrained configurations of relational dependencies. Building on prior work framing time as a generative constraint rather than a passive dimension, this model introduces…

  • An Encouraging Word for SETI

    I’ve long thought that what SETI is doing is important — not because it promises answers, but because it embodies a willingness to ask patient questions in a universe that doesn’t owe us clarity. It’s reasonable to think that the earliest technological civilizations, if they exist, may be so advanced as to be effectively invisible…

  • Assumptions, Perspectives, and the Question

    Why the Future Depends on Asking Better Questions William Cook ⸻ Historical Vignette I: When the Question Was the Crime In the early seventeenth century, Galileo Galilei did not attempt to dismantle inherited authority. He made observations. Through a telescope, he saw moons orbiting Jupiter, phases of Venus, and irregularities on the Sun—phenomena incompatible with…

  • Time, Constraint, and the Generation of Meaning

    A Relational Framework for Meaning, Consciousness, and Becoming Author: William Cook Website: mentalrootkit.net ⸻ Abstract This paper presents a unified philosophical framework in which meaning is not discovered as a pre-existing property of the universe, nor invented arbitrarily by conscious agents, but generated through the interaction of time, constraint, and localized awareness. Time is advanced…

  • The Inward Kingdom: Jesus and the Prophets on Free Forgiveness and the End of Transactional Religion

    William Cook ⸻ Abstract This paper argues that Jesus of Nazareth and the Hebrew prophets present forgiveness as originating in the character of God rather than in ritual sacrifice or transactional exchange. By focusing exclusively on prophetic writings and Gospel narratives—without Pauline interpretation—this study demonstrates that forgiveness is given before request, that mercy is proactive…